New Delhi, March 6 (IANS) Lawyer and Uttar Pradesh BJP spokesperson Prashant Kumar Umrao on Monday moved the Delhi High Court seeking transit pre-arrest bail after the TN police lodged an FIR against him for allegedly disseminating false information claiming attacks on migrant workers from Bihar in the southern state.
TN’s Thoothukudi Central Police Station registered the FIR against Umrao under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) such as provocation with intent to cause riot, provoking breach of peace and statement leading to public mischief, promoting enmity and hatred.
The petition said that because he is a member of a different political party, he is a victim of political rivalry.
The petition read: “The applicant intends to avail his legal remedies under Section 438 of the Cr.P.C. before the courts at Tamil Nadu having jurisdiction in the subject FIR, however, he is having grave apprehension that before he could avail such legal remedies, he would be arrested by the Tamil Nadu police in connection with the FIR.”
Umrao has alleged that his name has popped up after he tweeted something based on news covered by different national news agencies and that his name has been wrongly registered against him.
He had tweeted that “12 migrants from Bihar were hung to death in Tamil Nadu for speaking in Hindi” and shared a photo of Bihar deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav with TN Chief Minister MK Stalin saying that even after the migrants were attacked, Yadav attended the birthday celebrations of Stalin. The tweet has since been deleted.
“The applicant only gained the knowledge of the said FIR through a press release of the state of Tamil Nadu and several news articles which have been recently published covering the action initiated by TN in response to similar tweets and news articles,” the petition filed through advocates Kushal Kumar and Harsh Ahuja said.
“In view of the press release, registration of FIR against the applicant and subsequent action of the respondent no. 1 (State of Tamil Nadu), the applicant is seriously apprehending arrest in the subject FIR. The applicant is a resident of NCT of Delhi and is a practising lawyer before the courts at Delhi. He is a member of Delhi High Court Bar Association. He is also serving as standing counsel for the State of Goa before the Supreme Court,” it said.
“In the event the applicant is arrested without any reasonable opportunity to avail his legal remedies owing to his resident in Delhi, the distance and various other factors including the requirement and time to look for and engage a counsel in Tamil Nadu, the right to liberty of the applicant guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution would stand violated at the hands of Respondent no. 1,” the petition added.
The court is likely to hear the petition on March 7.
–IANS
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